C H A P T E R 4

The David and Goliath Saga

Emanuel TOY

In contrast to the unity found by Freedman, Emanuel Tov demonstrates that not all editors did neat work. Many scholars have argued that the Septuagint version of 1 Samuel 16-18 is an abridgment of the much longer received Hebrew text Tov argues that the Hebrew text is a combination of two shorter versions of the story, one of which is preserved in the Greek translation. Only such a conflation, he says, can explain the internal contradictions in the Hebrew, for example the introduc-tion of David in chapter 17 after he has already figured in chapter 16. The impli-cations of Tov's argument are far-reaching: uThe fact that the redactor... created a text displaying such inconsistencies is precisely what is supposed to have happened in other cases throughout the Bible, where texts underwent conflation, expansion and interpolation. "-Ed.

Jeffrey H- Tigay of the University of Pennsylvania sets the stage for the article that follows: Since the rise of biblical criticism in the 17th century, scholars have concluded that the books of the Hebrew Bible, like many other ancient literary classics, have not reached us in their original form but are the products of lengthy evolution. Many parts of the Bible are thought to include new material composed by revisers or vari-ant accounts of the same events interpolated into the original text by editors who wished to present information not found in any one account.

These conclusions were reached by critics reading between the lines of the tra-ditional text of the Bible. Phenomena such as inconsistencies, redundancies and I hematic and stylistic variants were read as clues that a given text was the com-bined work of more than one author or age or that it had been revised. Following these clues, scholars tried to analyze texts into their original components. Although (hey marshaled powerful arguments, the "analysts" were in effect arguing for the existence of lost documents, which none of them had ever seen and for which

52 Approaches to the Bible

there were no known sources. Because copies of the presumed earlier stages of these books were rarely available for consultation, the analyses were perforce confined to the traditional text, with few references to external controls. The "analysts" could never demonstrate that inconsistencies and the like necessarily resulted from revision or interpolation, and, with few exceptions, they could not show that ancient compositions had undergone the kind of evolution they hypothesized. Consequently, the results of biblical criticism, though impressive, have remained largely, hypothetical.

Today, we are in a position to introduce empirical perspectives into this theo-retical structure. Many literary compositions from ancient Mesopotamia and post-Exilic Israel are known in several versions from different periods. Such texts as the Gilgamesh Epic and the Samaritan version of the Torah can be shown to have reached their final forms in ways remarkably similar to the ways biblical crit-ics believe the books of the Bible developed.1 There are even cases where earlier versions of parts of the Bible are available, and by comparing them with the final versions we can see that the Bible developed in ways similar to those postulated by biblical critics. In many cases, it can be seen that inconsistencies and the like really are the results of the editing process, as the analysts supposed. These cases do not in themselves prove the theories correct, but they do confirm that they are plausible.

In the following article, Professor Emanuel Tov argues on the basis of the Septuagint that the story of David and Goliath, as it appears in the Hebrew text of the Bible, is one such case.

Biblical critics try to get behind biblical texts as they have come down to us to determine their history and prehistory, to find out if they were formed

by combining two or more different texts or strands, to determine what was left out or added along the way and, perhaps, even to understand why

Occasionally, we have more than one text of a passage or even of a book that provides us with real evidence—something besides theoretical clues— which allows us, more or less, to trace the step by step development of the final text. In this way, we can test, in particular instances, whether the theoretical procedures of transmission that scholars hypothesized actually occurred. Such a case involves not just textual transmission, but also presumably the different texts that were created at a very early stage, when the biblical book was still in the process of being created.

One such instance concerns the episode of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 16-18, in which the youthful David slays the Philistine strongman in his mighty armor. In this instance, we have, in fact, two different versions of the story. The version preserved in our Hebrew Bibles is known as the Masoretic text, or MT as scholars call it. Although this version has come down to us in a medieval form, it actually goes back to a much earlier period and is already attested in a few verses of a pericope found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The other version

David and Goliath 53

of the David and Goliath story is preserved in the oldest manuscripts of the Septuagint, or LXX as scholars refer to it. The LXX is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made for the Jews of Alexandria in the third or second cen-tury B.C.E. According to legend, 72 scholars working independently produced identical translations. The number was later rounded off to 70, hence the abbreviation LXX.2

The David and Goliath episode in the MT is a surprising 80 percent longer than the same episode in the LXX!

In the box on the following pages, the MT of 1 Samuel 16:17-18:30 is reprinted. The parts that appear in the MT but not in the LXX ("minuses," as they are called) are printed in italics.3

Besides the minuses of the LXX, there are other differences between the two versions. Sometimes one word is used in the LXX and another in the MT. And in 17 instances there are "pluses" in the LXX, that is, things that appear in the LXX but not in the MT. The pluses range from single words to complete sen-tences. How can we account for all these differences? We cannot tell a priori which version of the episode is earlier because both versions may be based on traditions much earlier than their actual date.

In the past, scholars have suggested two theories to explain the differences between the two versions of the David and Goliath episode. The first is that the LXX translators abridged the Hebrew text to eliminate some contradictions and discrepancies. The second is that the LXX translators were working from a shorter Hebrew text. Both explanations, however, focus only on the large minuses in the LXX and disregard the shorter minuses, the variant readings and the pluses in the LXX.

By examining these neglected details, 1 believe we can demonstrate that both explanations are wrong, or at least oversimplified. We can now show that the LXX translators did work from a shorter Hebrew version of the David and Goliath story, which represented an earlier stage in the literary development of the story. I believe we can also reconstruct the way the different versions were combined in the longer Hebrew text preserved in the MT as part of the liter-ary development of the Book of Samuel. We may consider ourselves "lucky" to have these insights into the history of the development of the book through the preservation of these ancient traditions.

The key to affirming that the LXX translator worked from a shorter Hebrew text is the assumption that the LXX version is a literal translation, that the tech-nique of translation, we might say, was literal rather than free. The next assump-tion, which is probably a reasonable one, is that a translator committed to a literal translation of a text would not have felt free to omit 44 percent of the original, which is what the LXX translator must have done if he started from the same basic Hebrew text as the one preserved in the MT. There-fore, he must have been working from a shorter Hebrew text, which he translated literally.

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How do we know that the LXX translators produced a literal translation if we don't have the Hebrew text from which they worked? There are four dif-ferent kinds of clues. (1) The translators used the identical Greek equivalent for single Hebrew word-elements (particles like a waw, for example, which means and or but depending on the context), despite differences in context; the result is often so-called "Hebraisms" in the Greek language. An example of one Hebraism in the story of David and Goliath follows. In Hebrew between is expressed by repeating the word ben before the words on either side, as if to say between Scylla and between Charybdis. The second between, used in Hebrew, is incorrect in Greek (as it is in English). Yet in the LXX translation of the David and Goliath story, the Greek equivalent of between is repeated as it is in Hebrew. Previous investigators have pointed out other Hebraisms in the Greek translation of the David and Goliath story. (2) The LXX translators fol-lowed the Hebrew word order even when this was awkward in Greek. (3) Quantitatively, the LXX translators tried to use one Greek word for each Hebrew word. (4) Frequently, though not always, the Greek translator used the same Greek word for a single Hebrew word.

For all these reasons, we conclude that the Greek translation of the David and Goliath episode in the LXX is a relatively literal one. If this conclusion is correct, then it is unlikely that the translators would have omitted 44 percent of the text they were translating. The Greek translators have shown that they were unwilling to take many liberties with the text. We can, therefore, assume that the LXX translators were working from a Hebrew text that was much shorter than the MT that has come down to us.

Some scholars have suggested that the LXX version is an abridgment of the MT version because the shorter version eliminates some inconsistencies and contradictions in the MT version. For example, in 1 Samuel 17:55-58, when the young David approaches Goliath, King Saul asks his general, Abner, to iden-tify the boy. Abner says he doesn't know him. After David kills Goliath, David is brought to Saul and introduced to him. Yet in the scene preceding the bat-tle between David and Goliath, Saul and David had a lengthy conversation about David confronting Goliath (1 Samuel 16:17-23). Why do Saul and Abner fail to recognize him later, and why is it necessary to introduce David a second time to King Saul? It has been suggested that the passage in which Saul and Abner claim not to know David was omitted by the LXX translators in order to eliminate this inconsistency.

Standing alone, this is a reasonable suggestion, although it presupposes that the translator allowed himself considerable liberty with the text. But this expla-nation is weakened by the fact that scores of other contradictory passages have been left in the LXX translation, including many in the Book of Samuel. Moreover, the elimination of inconsistencies in the Hebrew text would explain only a small percentage of the alleged omissions from the LXX translation. Lengthy passages are omitted where leaving out short sections would have been

David and Goliath 55

The Different Stories of David and Goliath in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Bible

1 Samuel 16:17-18:30 The words in italic type are found only in the Hebrew version (MT); all other words are found in both the Hebrew version and the Greek version (LXX).

16:17So Saul said to his courtiers, "Find me someone who can play well and bring him to me." 18One of the attendants spoke up, "I have observed a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilled in music; he is a stalwart fellow and a warrior, sensible in speech, and handsome in appearance, and the Lord is with him." 19Whereupon Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, "Send me your son David, who is with the flock." 20Jesse took an ass laden with bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by his son David. 21 So David came to Saul and entered his service; Saul took a strong liking to him and made him one of his arms-bearers. 22Saul sent word to Jesse, "Let David remain in my service, for I am pleased with him." 23Whenever the [evil] spirit of God came upon Saul, David would take the lyre and play it; Saul would find relief and feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

17:1The Philistines assembled their forces for battle; they massed at Socoh of Judah, and encamped at Ephes-dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. 2Saul and the men of Israel massed and encamped in the valley of Elah. They drew their line of battle against the Philistines, 3with the Philistines stationed on one hill and Israel stationed on the opposite hill; the ravine was between them. 4A champion of the Philistine forces stepped forward; his name was Goliath of Gath, and he was six cubits and a span tall. 5He had a bronze hel-met on his head, and wore a breastplate of scale armor, a bronze breastplate weighing five thousand shekels. 6He had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung from his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's bar, and the iron head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels; and the shield-bearer marched in front of him.

8He stopped and called out to the ranks of Israel and he said to them, "Why should you come out to engage in battle? I am the Philistine champion, and you are Saul's servants. Choose one of your men and let him come down against me. 9If he bests me in combat and kills me, we will become your slaves; but if I best him and kill him, you shall be our slaves and serve us." 10And the Philistine ended, "I herewith defy the ranks of Israel. Get me a man and let's fight it out!" uWhen Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and terror stricken.

12David was the son of a certain Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons, and in the days of Saul the man was already old, advanced in years. 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had left and gone with Saul to the war. The names of his three sons who had gone to the war were Eliab the firstborn, the next Abinadab, and the third Shammah; 14and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,15and David would go back and forth from attending on Saul to shepherd his father's flock at Bethlehem. •

56 Approaches to the Bible

16The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.

17f esse said to his son David, "Take an ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers in camp. 18Take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand. Find out how your brothers are and bring some token from them ." 19Saul and the brothers and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, in the war against the Philistines.

20Early next morning, David left someone in charge of the flock, took [the provisions], and set out, as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the bar-ricade as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite each other. 22David left his baggage with the man in charge of the baggage and ran toward the battle line and went to greet his brothers. 23While he was talking to them, the champion, whose name was Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, stepped forward from the Philistine ranks and spoke the same words as before; and David heard him.

24 When the men of Israel saw the man, they fled in terror. 25And the men of Israel were saying, "Do you see that man coming out? He comes to defy Israel! The man who kills him will be rewarded by the king with great riches; he will also give him his daughter in marriage and grant exemption to his father's house in Israel." 26David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine that he dares defy the ranks of the living God?" 21 The troops told him in the same words what would be done for the man who killed him.

28When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking to the men, Eliab became angry with David and said, "Why did you come here, and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your impudence and your impertinence: you came down to watch the fighting!" 29But David replied, "What have I done now? I was only asking30And he turned away from him toward someone else; he asked the same question, and the troops gave him the same answer as before. 31 The things David said were overheard and were reported to Saul, who had him brought over.

32David said to Saul, "Let no man's courage fail him. Your servant will go and fight that Philistine!" 33But Saul said to David, "You cannot go to that Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!" 34David replied to Saul, "Your servant has been tending his father's sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, 35I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it. 36Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and that uncircumcised Philistine shall end up like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God. 37The Lord," David went on, "who saved me from lion and bear will also save me from the Philistine." "Then go," Saul said to David, "and may the Lord be with you!"

38Saul clothed David in his own garment; he placed a bronze helmet on his head and fastened a breastplate on him. 39David girded his sword over his garment. Then he tried to walk; but he was not used to it. And David said to

David and Goliath 57

Saul, "I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them." So he David took them off. 40He took his stick, picked a few smooth stones from the wadi, put them in the pocket of his shepherd's bag and, sling in hand, he went toward the Philistine.

41 The Philistine, meanwhile, was coming closer to David, preceded by his shield-bearer. 42And the Philistine looked and he saw David; he scorned him, for he was but a boy, ruddy and handsome. 43And the Philistine called out to David, "Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods; 44and the Philistine said to David, "Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and beasts of the field."

43David replied to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you and cut off your head; and I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. All the earth shall know that there is a God in Israel. 47And this whole assembly shall know that the Lord can give victory without sword or spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and He will deliver you into our hands."

48When the Philistine began to come and advance toward David, David quickly ran up to the battle line to face the Philistine. 49David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. 50Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword. 51So David ran up and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and pulled it from its sheath; and with it he dispatched him and cut off his head.

When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they ran. 52The men of Israel and Judah rose up with a war cry and they pursued the Philistines all the way to Gath and up to the gates of Ekron; the Philistines fell mortally wounded along the road to Shaarim up to Gath and Ekron. 53Then the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines and looted their camp.

54David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; and he put his weapons in his own tent.

55When Saul saw David going out to assault the Philistine, he asked his army commander Abner, "Whose son is that boy, Abner?" And Abner replied, "By your life, Your Majesty, I do not know." 56"Then find out whose son that young fellow is," the king ordered. 57So when David returned after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul, with the head of the Philistine still in his hand. 58Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, my boy?" And David answered, "The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

18:1When he finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan's soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. 2Saul took him [into his service] that day and would not let him return to his father's house-Jonathan and David made a pact, because he loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to •

58 Approaches to the Bible

David, together with his sword, bow and belt. 5David went out, and he was suc-cessful in every mission on which Saul sent him, and Saul put him in command of all the soldiers; this pleased all the troops and Saul's courtiers as well. 6When they came home [and] David returned from killing the Philistine, the women of all the towns of Israel came out singing and dancing to greet King Saul with timbrels, shouting, and sistrums. 7The women sang as they danced, and they chanted: Saul has slain his thousands; David his tens of thousands! 8Saul was much distressed and greatly vexed about the matter. For he said, "To David they have given tens of thousands, and to me they have given thousands. All that he lacks is the kingship!" 9From that day on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. 10The next day an evil spirit of God gripped Saul and he began to rave in the house, while David was playing [the lyre], as he did daily Saul had a spear in his hand, uand Saul threw the spear, thinking to pin David to the wall But David eluded him twice. uSaul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him and had turned away from Saul. 13So Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him chief of a thousand, to march at the head of the troops. 14David was successful in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him; 15and when Saul saw that he was suc-cessful, he dreaded him. 16A11 Israel and Judah loved David, for he marched at their head.

17Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab, I will give her to you in marriage; in return, you be my warrior and fight the battles of the Lord." Saul thought: "Let not my hand strike him; let the hand of the Philistines strike him." 18David replied to Saul, "Who am I and what is my life-my father's family in Israel-that I should become Your Majesty's son-in-law?" 19But at the time that

enough to remove the inconsistencies. And not all the inconsistencies have been eliminated in the LXX. In 1 Samuel 16:18, David is called "a man of valor and a man of war" (gibbor hayil we-is milhama); later he is called a mere "lad" (na car). Both references appear in the LXX translation.

In short, the argument that the LXX translators abridged the text they were working from is not convincing. Moreover, we find nothing like the alleged abridgment in the David and Goliath story elsewhere in Samuel where there are contradictions and inconsistencies.

We must conclude, therefore, that the episode as related in the LXX was an independent, cohesive version of the David-Goliath story and that the MT story was created by combining two previously independent accounts, a process scholars call conflation. One of these accounts is preserved in the LXX. We know the other account only as it is embedded in the conflate MT.

One indication that the MT version is a conflate account is that some par-allels or duplicates of what were originally two separate versions of the same episode are included. In both accounts, David is introduced to Saul. In the con-flate account in the MT, he is introduced twice, once in 16:17-23 and a second time in 17:55-58 (the latter is missing from the LXX). In both accounts, Saul

David and Goliath 59

Merab, daughter of Saul, should have been given to David, she was given in mar-riage to Adriel the Meholathite. 20Now Michal, daughter of Saul, had fallen in love with David; and when this was reported to Saul, it the matter was pleasing for him. 21Saul thought: "1 will give her to him, and she can serve as a snare for him, so that the Philistines may kill him." So Saul said to David, "You can become my son-in-law even now through the second one." 22And Saul instructed his courtiers to say to David privately, "The king is fond of you and all his courtiers like you. So why not become the king's son-in-law?" 23When the king's courtiers repeated these words to David, David replied, "Do you think that becoming the son-in-law of a king is a small matter, when 1 am but a poor man of no consequence?" 24Saul's courtiers reported to him saying, "This is what David answered." 25And Saul said, "Say this to David: The king desires no other bride price than the fore-skins of a hundred Philistines, as vengeance on the king's enemies.'"—Saul intended to bring about David's death at the hands of the Philistines.—26When his courtiers told this to David, David was pleased with the idea of becoming the king's son-in-law. Before the time had expired, 27David went out with his men and killed two hundred Philistines, David brought their foreskins and they were counted out for the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. He Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. 28When Saul saw and knew the Lord was with David and that Michal daughter of Saul loved him, 29and he Saul grew still more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy ever after.

30The Philistine chiefs marched out to battle; and every time they marched out, David was more successful than all the other officers of Saul His reputation soared.

offers one of his daughters to David. In 18:20-27 (MT), he offers his daughter Michal; in 18:17-19 (MT), which is missing from LXX, he offers David his eldest daughter, Merab.

The two accounts combined in the MT are not completely parallel and often contain different elements and different details. As a result, the conflate version preserved in the MT not only contains inconsistencies, but also some misplaced events.

One instance on which all scholars agree concerns Saul's attempt to kill David. As it appears in 1 Samuel 18:10-11 (MT), it is surely misplaced. The pas-sage is repeated verbatim in 1 Samuel 19:9-10 (MT). In the earlier appearance (1 Samuel 18:10-11 MT), Saul's attempt to kill David undercuts the gradual intensification of his envy and suspicion of David. Indeed, in the LXX account the sequence of events is more logical than in the combined version in the MT. In the LXX, Saul is at first envious of David (18:8-9), then suspicious (18:12), then frightened because of David's success (18:13-15). Then, he wants David killed by the Philistines; and when that fails, Saul tries to kill David himself (19:9-10). In the combined MT version, Saul's progressive antagonism to David is interrupted by his premature attempt to kill David.

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Moreover, the conflate account in the MT contains a number of inconsis-tencies. We have already referred to the most conspicuous one. After David is introduced to Saul and appointed armor-bearer (16:17-23 MT), he disappears from the battlefield and reappears as a shepherd who had been tending his father's sheep; neither Saul nor Saul's general, Abner, knows him, and David is reintroduced to Saul (17:55-58 MT).

And there are other inconsistencies in the MT:

• In 17:12, David and his father Jesse are introduced to the reader, although they had already been identified in chapter 16 of the MT. • David is depicted in more than one way in the composite MT narrative. In 16:21, he is Saul's armor-bearer, and in that capacity he fights Goliath. In 17:12-31 and 55-58, he is an unknown shepherd boy who happens to be visiting his brothers when Goliath challenges the Israelites to a duel. • In 18:13, David is made an officer in Saul's army, although he was already made an officer in 18:5. • According to 17:25, whoever defeats Goliath will be given with King Saul's daughter in marriage as a reward. But in 18:20ff., Saul looks for pretexts to convince David to marry his daughter, and David insists that he is unworthy. • According to 18:20-27, Saul offers David Michal, but in verses 17-19, he offers David his eldest daughter, Merab, in accordance with his promise to marry his daughter to the man who defeats Goliath.

Why the editor or redactor created this conflate version is a matter of con-jecture. It stands to reason that he wanted to preserve certain traditions and details from another version of the David and Goliath account that were not included in the short Hebrew text on which the LXX translation was based. It is especially hard to understand why he included 17:12-31, where David comes back for a second time as an unknown shepherd, and 17:55-58, in which he is again introduced to Saul after slaying Goliath. Perhaps he simply liked the story; perhaps he wanted to convey a particular idea, namely that God's peo-ple can be victorious even through seemingly insignificant figures (in this version David was unknown before the battle).

But the redactor did not entirely ignore the inconsistencies created by juxtaposing the two versions. A few details in the MT have the effect of smoothing out certain inconsistencies.

In 17:12, for example, David's father, Jesse, is identified, although he was already introduced in chapter 16. Therefore, the redactor added the word ha-zeh (this one) after the identification in chapter 17, which has the effect of saying "the aforementioned Jesse," as if to say "1 know he has already been intro-duced." In 17:15, we are told that David went back and forth from King Saul's court to tend his father's sheep in Bethlehem, perhaps to smooth over David's second arrival on the battlefield. And in 18:21b, the Masoretic redactor adds, "You can become my son-in-law now through the second fdaughter]," a kind

David and Goliath 61

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1 SAMUEL 17:44-18:22 in the Septuagint, Codex Vaticanus (LXXB). In this version almost half of the verses of 1 Samuel 17-18 found in the Hebrew text are absent.

of cross-reference to the change from Merab, Saul's eldest daughter who was referred to earlier, to Michal, Saul's second daughter.

The implications of this analysis of the David and Goliath story go far beyond this particular episode. The redactor who combined the two versions created a text with inconsistencies, which is precisely what is supposed to have happened in other cases throughout the Bible where texts underwent con-flation, expansion and interpolation. The only difference is that in this case we can document the existence of two layers of the story because they have been preserved in the LXX; in other cases, the existence of various layers can not be demonstrated and must remain hypothetical.